The mere mention of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg incites Colorado Republicans so it was bit of shocker to see state Treasurer Walker Stapleton actually quoting the mayor in a recent press release.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks at the opening ceremony of Four World Trade Center earlier this month. (Getty Images)

“Recently Mayor Michael Bloomberg publicly stated that an 8 percent return was ‘absolutely hysterical’ and even a 7 percent return is ‘indefensible,’ when the New York City pension plan was undergoing discussions to lower their expected rate of return,” Stapleton said in the release.

Michael Bloomberg! New York City! What was the Republican state treasurer thinking? Didn’t he get the memo about vilifying Bloomberg 24-7?

Speaking to a national news outlet Monday, Gov. John Hickenlooper suggested gun-control groups stay away from Colorado and the recall effort of state Sen. Evie Hudak.

“Colorado is a state that people like to be themselves and solve their own problems,” Hickenlooper, a Democrat, told USA Today. “They don’t really like outside organizations meddling in their affairs, and maybe the NRA gets a pass on that.”

Hickenlooper added: “But (it is) probably not a bad idea” for groups like New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns — and other gun-control groups — to not be as active in the recall of Hudak.

“It is a political reality that voters tend not to like involvement from outsiders. Whether money is from liberal or conservative groups, the opposing side will generally try to portray outside money as ‘meddling,'” Eric Brown, Hickenlooper’s spokesman, said in a statement.

Two former state senators who are Jewish say an ad featuring New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg as a puppetmaster pulling Sen. Angela Giron’s strings is not anti-Semitic, as critics have claimed.

Critics have called an ad featuring New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg as a puppetmaster pulling Sen. Angela Giron’s strings is anti-Semitic.

Democrat Ken Gordon of Denver, the former Senate majority leader, said the attempt is not to evoke images of his and Bloomberg’s Jewish heritage, but for gun-rights advocates to portray gun control as an “Eastern, liberal thing.”

Both Giron, a Pueblo Democrat, and John Morse, a Colorado Springs Democrat, face ouster for their support of stricter gun laws in the 2013 session. During the debate, critics charged that the Democratic controlled-legislature was getting its marching orders from Bloomberg’s group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns. Bloomberg also has contributed $350,000 to fight the recalls.

“I think it would be overreaching to say the ad’s anti-Semitic,” said Democrat Joyce Foster of Denver, after learning the ad features a photo of Bloomberg, rather than a “caricature” of someone with a “big nose.”

Senate Minority Leader Bill Cadman stands in front of a New York flag posted in the Senate Republican Office after the legislature passed gun bills critics say restrict gun rights. Gov. John Hickenlooper will sign three of the bills on Wednesday.

Senate Republicans have accused Gov. John Hickenlooper of following New York’s lead on gun laws, and today they made it official, hanging a doctored $40 New York flag in their Capitol office.

The coat of arms, though now bears new faces. Hickenlooper’s face is on Liberty, the figure with the Revolutionary imagery of a Phrygian cap raised on a pole. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s face is imposed on the figure on the right, the blindfold Justice.

The altered New York flag features Gov. Hickenlooper.

“I called Bloomberg the de facto governor of Colorado, and now he and Hickenlooper share a flag,” said Senate Minority Leader Bill Cadman, R-Colorado Springs.

Despite a super-sized campaign to get the governor to veto the gun bills, on Wednesday Hickenlooper will sign three gun bills into law: House Bill 1224 limits ammunition magazines to 15 rounds; House Bill 1228 requires gun customers to pay for the costs of their own background checks; and House Bill 1229 requires universal background checks.

The looming showdown over guns at the Capitol keeps producing work for lobbyists under the gold dome.

The latest hire? Chris Howes, a Republican, and the head of the Howes Group, a Denver lobbying firm. Howes was hired by the National Rifle Association on Thursday, according to records with the Colorado Secretary of State’s office. He said he is sub-contracting the NRA work with Collon Kennedy, a Democrat and lobbyist with the Denver firm of Colorado Communiqué.

But in addition to Sewald and Hanfling, lobbyist John Karakoulakis of Holland and Hart is also working for Magpul. Karakoulakis, a Republican and a former legislative liaison for the Colorado Department of Higher Education under former Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat, is also representing the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which is a trade association for gun manufacturers and retailers.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.